maximus wrote:Was supposed to be Victorious last week, but we didn't play. Whatever you guys decide is cool with me.

That's what I thought, that's why I was confused. If Tree want's to run V! tonight he can, or I can run. It doesn't matter to me.

R-

It will depend on if Mike can make it. I hear he is back at his fathers. So right now I am guessing your game. Plus I forgot I didn't run last week.

Hmmmm....

Lets just go with your game, then.

Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

DMMike wrote:Yes, I'm just back after 2 weeks in the wilderness. Fingers crossed, but the support system is set up enough now so I shouldn't have to do this again before the summer. Fingers crossed!

So, is V this coming Monday, or the next one?

Mike the Confused

A little over 48 hours from now. Just over 50 hours, if I am doing my math correctly.

Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Queen of Spades .... Mesmerism ....Hay ... I have a bonus to save ....

Doing the prep for my girls game, I came across the mesmerism rule that since I also have the power I get my power level as a bonus to save. I doubt a +2 would have helped a lot all the time, but maybe once or twice it may have made a difference. Well with roll 20, maybe once, maybe ...

"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Sorry guys, I'll be out of town this week with the kids on Spring break. Have fun, and feel free to use and abuse Liam. My attribute bonus's, which wax and wane with the moon, are listed on my character sheet.

That was one heck of a battle last night! The most important thing for me as the GM, is that I proved to myself just how to balance actual battles. I made you guys burn throw a lot of VP's, beat several of you up pretty badly, and realized I need to make a can opener.

XP is going to be high for this one. Easily over 1,000 XP each. If I am doing the rough math in my head close to correctly, its going to be over 2,000 each.

Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Treebore wrote:That was one heck of a battle last night! The most important thing for me as the GM, is that I proved to myself just how to balance actual battles. I made you guys burn throw a lot of VP's, beat several of you up pretty badly, and realized I need to make a can opener.

XP is going to be high for this one. Easily over 1,000 XP each. If I am doing the rough math in my head close to correctly, its going to be over 2,000 each.

It WAS an epic one. Not sure on balanced, but it was a nail bighter and one for the history books!

I learned, I can't rely on victory points to save my life and save my sanity (I may have to get rid of my nightmare shortcoming quicker than I planned so I don't have it as a drain to my VPs).

Also, we NEED to get more offensive powers and a verity of them. This includes me ! My offense that does damage is a pistol doing only a d6 or a saber that is d8 +2 . Unimpressive at best.

The entangle is useful but not a knock down punch.

"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

More seriously, my only offensive weapon is Rank 1 Blast, and I basically powered it with Victory Points. Not that healing people is nothing, though it's usually better to be doing that when you AREN'T in a fight.

Aergraith wrote:Just shows what you can do with an open parasol and a pinch of snuff.

About as much as you'd expect.

More seriously, my only offensive weapon is Rank 1 Blast, and I basically powered it with Victory Points. Not that healing people is nothing, though it's usually better to be doing that when you AREN'T in a fight.

True, but is pretty darn important to keep people up and in the fight, which you did.

Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

It WAS an epic one. Not sure on balanced, but it was a nail bighter and one for the history books!

Know what the pass/fail test on balance is? Did the group win or lose?

Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

It WAS an epic one. Not sure on balanced, but it was a nail bighter and one for the history books!

Know what the pass/fail test on balance is? Did the group win or lose?

I apologize. It was not meant as a criticism or negative critique. Remember I am the one that HATES 'game balance'.

I think it was great that at least 2 of us have used all (well I have 2 left) VPs to win the fight, and others had to burn a good portion of theirs. I love that Rigon had to grit his teeth and get in swinging his rapier, Aerg was reduced to trying and block Holms vision with her umbrella, that you daughter was fighting with touch attacks and that I had to pull pistols firing away and then go stand side by side with Faith and face death (knowing I only had 4 VPs and would get at least 2 death attacks against me unless me Damon & Faith all hit and did max damage in that first round) and then had to decide if I wanted to hit him with my saber, or try and drag him into the shadow realms, let him kill me there, and trap him there (yes that was my plan that last round - that or drag him into the shadows, keep him from death attacking anyone and take him into the sewer and come out of the shadows and try and drown him in the muck until he passed out)

That isn't balanced, but it is a GREAT game.

To me it would be balanced if we had a tough go of it, but would have won without using huge amounts of VPs. That way we could face similar fights and win each time. However, we HAD to burn the VP to win and even then it was RISK, so it was not balanced. But again, that is GOOD.

It showed our weaknesses, it taught me more about my character (and it hit home how much a negative it is to have my nightmare/insanity shortcoming). Those 20s or 1s causing insanity have a HUGE game effect. I had to use 2 vps prior to the game to be safely sane, but those 2 points would have protected me from 2 of those death attacks.

Oh yeah, don't forget I did roll a 20 while using my powers (the saber attack that knocked Holms out) so I do get a nightmare (not a point of insanity but still a nightmare and a day of exhaustion until I can rest - so enjoy making my dark dreams come true in the narrative thread).

Now, I hope the next few fights aren't that tough, but for that Big Bad Guy - especially since we got off not having to go toe to toe with the Queen of Spades - it was a great fight. We need to grow and develop our characters / powers a bit (read get a few more levels under our belt) before we fight some one else that can look at us and rip our sol out in one attack again.

Speaking of developing powers, Would you allow me to develop a 'shadow saber' use the blast power, but have it range touch, requiring a successful MA attack, and be linked to my sun light complete darkness weakness - which would give it rank 2 or 2 when I buy it. That way I actually have an effective attack power.

I know I wanted to get an area effect for my entangle, and after the last fight I WANT to buy off the insanity negative, but I can't say we need better attacks and not develop one asap myself.

"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

I wasn't taking it as a criticism, just telling you how I define a balanced encounter. Yeah, I made you burn through a lot of resources, but I had also let you build them up. If you all hadn't had so many VP's, I would have stolen two or more character souls. As it is, you know you had a really tough fight, and took out a really powerful evil power. Next I get to see if your Heroes, or vigilantes.

Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Treebore wrote:I wasn't taking it as a criticism, just telling you how I define a balanced encounter.

I've never really seen a balanced supers game. Maybe M&M tried it but there seemed to be loopholes.

I did play in a fun game of Wild Talents where we played characters who were among the first to turn into superheroes through some mysterious thing in the sky. That one felt fairly balanced. I wanted to try something novel, so I designed my super as a 10 year old boy who had spent most of his life in hospitals. When the event happened, his greatest hope was that he could be like his teddy bear, who never suffered any illness. And, voila, I was all of a sudden a 10 year old boy in the body of an 8' tall teddy bear with superpowers (just as any 10 year old would design him)

The first real combat he got in, he burst into tears afterwards

But, back to balance. My test is more like: is everyone having fun? Is everyone getting to do cool stuff? As long as everybody gets something cool in combat, social, environmental, and background encounters that's close enough to balance for supers

I've been thinking about my character's development also. I may have to let Roger teach Damon those martial arts. My Dex to hit and damge will be a noticiable difference for my PC. I was also thinking about getting some kind of ranged weapon. I just don't think that a gun would fit with my character concept, maybe throwing knives to keep in line with his history as a circus preformer. He would be familar with that and with my Dex bonus it would be very doable.

Tree, I have a question about my Acrobatics skill. The description has this as it's first line: "This skill allows a Hero to add their clas level when evading attacks..."
My question is, does that apply to my AC all the time or just when I am using the Evade manuiver? Plus, if it applies to my AC, does having more ranks also grant the bonus from having multiple ranks (ie +3, +2, +1, etc)

Another question, I can't seem to find anywhere in the book what unarmed combat damage is. If I take the Martial Arts skill I will need to know what my fists and feet do for damage.

I think part of the issue is the usual Justice Leave vs. X-Men debate. Do we go off into small groups to investigate and fight on our own (a la JLA) or do we stick together and try to work on maneuvers to compensate for each other's weaknesses (a la X-Men)?

We are just starting out really, so its still something to consider. Most supers games I've been in tend to go the JLA route but its not a guarantee if we work things out.

Plus, some certain rich people (<cough> Alexandra <cough>) might consider buying some stuff from the H&H catalog to help some or all of us better fight our foes.

Rigon wrote:Tree, I have a question about my Acrobatics skill. The description has this as it's first line: "This skill allows a Hero to add their clas level when evading attacks..."
My question is, does that apply to my AC all the time or just when I am using the Evade manuiver? Plus, if it applies to my AC, does having more ranks also grant the bonus from having multiple ranks (ie +3, +2, +1, etc)

Another question, I can't seem to find anywhere in the book what unarmed combat damage is. If I take the Martial Arts skill I will need to know what my fists and feet do for damage.

R-

I think it means that the DEX bonus to AC applies the same way it applies in C&C. IE whenever you know the attack is coming. As for buying more ranks, didn't you use the system to buy a higher attribute? So you could get your DEX attribute to a max of 30. Or did you use a power to specifically add to your AC?

If unarmed damage is not in the book, it probably defaults to the C&C definition. Which I believe is a 1d3. However, I do recall reading in one of the Power descriptions, probably Might, how damage dice progress with rank for blows. Thats how I got to the 3d4 for the Handymen.

Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Rigon wrote:Tree, I have a question about my Acrobatics skill. The description has this as it's first line: "This skill allows a Hero to add their clas level when evading attacks..."
My question is, does that apply to my AC all the time or just when I am using the Evade manuiver? Plus, if it applies to my AC, does having more ranks also grant the bonus from having multiple ranks (ie +3, +2, +1, etc)

Another question, I can't seem to find anywhere in the book what unarmed combat damage is. If I take the Martial Arts skill I will need to know what my fists and feet do for damage.

R-

I think it means that the DEX bonus to AC applies the same way it applies in C&C. IE whenever you know the attack is coming. As for buying more ranks, didn't you use the system to buy a higher attribute? So you could get your DEX attribute to a max of 30. Or did you use a power to specifically add to your AC?

I have 2 ranks in the Attribute power to get my high Dex, but I also have the Acrobatics skill, also with 2 ranks. My question is about the skill adding to the AC, as I know that the Dex bonus adds to it. It's the difference between having an 18 AC vs having a 23 AC. It's fine if the Skill only works when being directly engaged (Evade manuiver), I just want to update my character sheet and make sure we are on the same page.

If unarmed damage is not in the book, it probably defaults to the C&C definition. Which I believe is a 1d3. However, I do recall reading in one of the Power descriptions, probably Might, how damage dice progress with rank for blows. Thats how I got to the 3d4 for the Handymen.

Yeah, I thought I had read somewhere in the book that it was 1d4 for base damage, but couldn't find it. But now that you said that about the Might power, I looked and it assumes 1d4 as a base.

Rigon wrote:I've been thinking about my character's development also. I may have to let Roger teach Damon those martial arts. My Dex to hit and damge will be a noticiable difference for my PC. I was also thinking about getting some kind of ranged weapon. I just don't think that a gun would fit with my character concept, maybe throwing knives to keep in line with his history as a circus preformer. He would be familar with that and with my Dex bonus it would be very doable.

R-

I'll be glad to teach you, and we can say you were working on it over the few weeks between the end of the 'Queen of Spades' caper and this one'

For the ranged attacks, good point on the throwing daggers. It does fir your character better than my revolvers

For UA damage, I can't remember the dice but doesn't martial arts (for dex attacks) give a +3 at the second rank to both attacks & damage ?

DMMike wrote:
I think part of the issue is the usual Justice Leave vs. X-Men debate. Do we go off into small groups to investigate and fight on our own (a la JLA) or do we stick together and try to work on maneuvers to compensate for each other's weaknesses (a la X-Men)?

We are just starting out really, so its still something to consider. Most supers games I've been in tend to go the JLA route but its not a guarantee if we work things out.

Plus, some certain rich people (<cough> Alexandra <cough>) might consider buying some stuff from the H&H catalog to help some or all of us better fight our foes.

Mike

My vote is for recon to go JLA, but for coming to fights X-Men ALL the way

As for 'rich people' I do have a bit of wealth and am tied to the British Government, soooooo ... I'll put in an order asap as we clean up this little Mr Holms mess we are in. - That is of course if H&H does eist in Tree's world and we have access to it or a local retailer store front for them.

Treebore wrote:
I wasn't taking it as a criticism, just telling you how I define a balanced encounter. Yeah, I made you burn through a lot of resources, but I had also let you build them up. If you all hadn't had so many VP's, I would have stolen two or more character souls. As it is, you know you had a really tough fight, and took out a really powerful evil power. Next I get to see if your Heroes, or vigilantes.

Well ... I answer that for Roger in my narrative, to bad I forgot to send it from my work computer to home so I could post it tonight ... so I guess you have to wait a day

What do you say on my idea for an attack power & if it is workable, what rank from the initial buy ?

"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain